By Rita Beamish, published today on this page.
Sarah Palin's promise for a new era of government openness as the reform governor of Alaska started to crack even before Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign built a wall of protectiveness around her.
Palin was elected nearly two years ago with splashy moves like publishing the state spending checkbook online. She kept a campaign pledge to allow the public to view online communications between state officials and potential bidders on a major gas pipeline, a contrast to her predecessor.
But her administration has claimed broad exceptions to Alaska's freedom of information rules to keep government e-mails secret, and it's shown reluctance to disclose documents about sensitive topics, ranging from polar bears to policy issues. And her state's online checkbook is limited in its detail.
Disclosures about private e-mail accounts used by Palin and her top aides have raised questions about whether they were trying to evade disclosure under the state's public records law. Her aides have denied this.
Alaska's attorney general, appointed by Palin, determined in August that any personal communications on state-reimbursed cell phones and BlackBerrys can be kept secret under the Public Records Act. That could sweep information from public view if it were deemed personal, although the attorney general said state officials or courts still could review the records as needed.
For citizens or journalists seeking public records in Alaska, the government generally must provide copies of records upon request within 10 days. The Associated Press has received some documents it sought in as little as one day.
But when the AP asked for documents about nursing homes last June, state officials demanded $5,000 in fees and never responded to the news agency's request to waive the fees and produce the records for the public's benefit.
Alaska now charges $960 per e-mail account for searches, plus additional fees for copying.
Like Palin, McCain has promised to set new standards for transparency and accountability. Before becoming governor, Palin resigned from a state oil and gas board where she said confidentiality rules prohibited her from publicly discussing ethics problems she encountered and reported internally.
Now Palin is dogged by accusations of stonewalling in a home-state investigation into whether she pressured officials to fire her former brother-in-law, a state trooper. After initially promising to cooperate, Palin challenged the lawmakers' impartiality. The results of that investigation are expected to be made public as early as Friday.
"As soon as the heat comes on, the openness and transparency goes away," said Anchorage Daily News editorial page editor Matt Zencey.
At a campaign rally, Palin described her state's online checkbook and said she would "bring that kind of transparency, that responsibility, and accountability" to Washington. But the U.S. government already has a more in-depth public accounting system, a result of legislation sponsored by Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and co-sponsored by McCain, Palin's running mate.
The site, USASpending.gov, offers details about federal contracts, loans, grants and insurance payments. Alaska's Online Checkbook provides little detail beyond the vendor and amount spent, such as money spent on travel. Citizens must separately submit a formal public records request to learn who traveled, the destination and travel purpose.
Even while Palin ditched the prickly press relations of her predecessor, Frank Murkowski, her staff complained about TV crews waiting to question people outside her office. Longtime state Capitol reporter Gregg Erickson said there were early signs she wouldn't meet the high bar of openness that she had set for herself.
Palin asked Erickson early on why he had to sue an earlier administration to get public records.
"I told her the reason governors keep it secret is they find it lots easier to govern if they can control the flow of public information. That seemed to stun her," said Erickson, editor of the Alaska Budget Report newsletter. "It's a principle she certainly discovered. Within a few weeks we were running up against difficulty," he added. He described a set of heavily edited records that he only received in full after appealing on legal grounds.
Alaska lawmakers found Palin secretive about her budget plans, and they were angered she didn't signal her vetoes before axing projects they supported.
"The problem is, she campaigned on being open and transparent," Democratic state Rep. Beth Kerttula said. "She says she's open but the reality with the budget is, the goals she did lay out didn't seem to be followed."
A University of Alaska professor, Rick Steiner, spent months working to obtain reports by Alaska marine mammal experts that didn't mesh with Palin's opposition to the federal designation of polar bears as a threatened species.
Steiner was told variously that he had to be more specific in his request, that the information didn't exist, that he could find it on a state Web site, and finally that it was protected by a "deliberative process" provision under state law.
Palin made her name as a reformer when she ferreted out e-mails of a state official she suspected of wrongdoing. Back then, she said withholding such information violated her beliefs as a public servant. Now Palin's aides are withholding swaths of e-mails exchanged among her and top staff that critics and news organizations have sought under the Public Records Act. Some were sent to Palin's husband, Todd.
"It's incumbent on the government to explain why these communications should be treated as confidential if outsiders are included," said John McKay, a First Amendment lawyer in Anchorage.
Any messages about official business are public records, but the state e-mail servers capture them only if at least one party uses an Alaska state e-mail address, said Kevin Brooks, deputy commissioner of administration.
Palin has been careful to send copies of official e-mails to at least one employee's government address so they would be retained, spokeswoman Meg Stapleton said. She said Palin used a private e-mail account to avoid conducting personal business using state equipment.
Former Alaska Gov. Wally Hickel once fled an elevator to avoid a reporter's questions, but Palin invited Bob Tkacz, a business freelance reporter who covers Alaska government, for a chat when he staked her out this summer. That didn't mean she spilled the scoops.
"She's a nice lady," he said, "but when she doesn't want to say something it's very hard to get anything out of her."
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Monday, October 06, 2008
Monday 10/6, and ...
On other fronts, tried a new sushi place tonight with Mitch. They are closer to our house by a long shot and cheaper too, but the selection was more narrow. In the end, we had 2 bowls of miso, 14 pieces of nigiri (sake, maguro, and albacore), and 3 rolls (tuna, salmon and salmon skin) plus tea for $29. Not bad.
Went to the doctor today to see about this cough I've had for a week. He prescribed antibiotics and I also picked up some 12-hour cough suppressant at the drugstore. It would be nice to sleep for more than 5 hours in a stretch.
Back to the jits: rolled with Tom today. I was disappointed, I feel like I'm being soft, slow, and was quicker to give up. My takedowns of course need work, as do my triangles/armbars from guard. I get halfway to doing it in a roll, but get all confuddled because in an one you're attacking the "back" or "bottom" arm and in the other you're attacking the "top" or "close" arm, and my hip movement was all wrong. I coerced Mitch into agreeing to let me drill my armbars and triangles on him for a while tonight on the premise that we all must sacrifice something :)
Tom keeps telling me I'm getting better, today the comment was my lateral movement is better, but I'm not convinced. I noticed again the extremely disturbing trend of me giving up when my breath is pushed out of me. I'm still challenged when passing his open guard and even cracked my eye a good one on his knee (voila, my first black eye. It isn't much to look at, just a little mouse and some purple, but I'm ridiculously proud.) And at the very very end, I tweaked my right elbow again DAMMIT and ended up tapping because it hurt, though it was completely unrelated to what he was doing at the time.
I skipped rolling with Robert after class, because of the elbow and the mouse. But tomorrow at Gracie I have class at 6a and again class 5-9pm. I am hopeful that Scott will come through about helping me at this round robin thing.
So here's two shots of my eye... camera phone, low quality, poor lighting.. the only visible part is the red corner, but it doesn't look a whole lot worse in real life. Better luck next time! :)
Went to the doctor today to see about this cough I've had for a week. He prescribed antibiotics and I also picked up some 12-hour cough suppressant at the drugstore. It would be nice to sleep for more than 5 hours in a stretch.
Back to the jits: rolled with Tom today. I was disappointed, I feel like I'm being soft, slow, and was quicker to give up. My takedowns of course need work, as do my triangles/armbars from guard. I get halfway to doing it in a roll, but get all confuddled because in an one you're attacking the "back" or "bottom" arm and in the other you're attacking the "top" or "close" arm, and my hip movement was all wrong. I coerced Mitch into agreeing to let me drill my armbars and triangles on him for a while tonight on the premise that we all must sacrifice something :)
Tom keeps telling me I'm getting better, today the comment was my lateral movement is better, but I'm not convinced. I noticed again the extremely disturbing trend of me giving up when my breath is pushed out of me. I'm still challenged when passing his open guard and even cracked my eye a good one on his knee (voila, my first black eye. It isn't much to look at, just a little mouse and some purple, but I'm ridiculously proud.) And at the very very end, I tweaked my right elbow again DAMMIT and ended up tapping because it hurt, though it was completely unrelated to what he was doing at the time.
I skipped rolling with Robert after class, because of the elbow and the mouse. But tomorrow at Gracie I have class at 6a and again class 5-9pm. I am hopeful that Scott will come through about helping me at this round robin thing.
So here's two shots of my eye... camera phone, low quality, poor lighting.. the only visible part is the red corner, but it doesn't look a whole lot worse in real life. Better luck next time! :)
Sunday, October 05, 2008
Sunday 10/5
This morning I had a class at the Gracie school and met a great opponent, Leila. My friend Ivelin decided to come with and check it out. After the conditioning and stretching drills, we got to work on a series from guard- armbar, triangle, reverse armbar.
I worked on that with Randy and Ivelin. Randy had some excellent suggestions, like at the start of the armbar, move your own centerline instead of wrestling with them for their arm. The less you pull on someone the less they resist you. When in someone's guard, keep your elbows pinned low and down and swing with them, capitalizing on their own excesses.
When we got around to rolling, I lucked out with Leila. She was doing no-gi, is about my size, about my experience level, and really tough! So it was a delight. We started from knees. I took her down but she got half guard though no lockdown. She's very strong and made it hard to pass. I eventually established side control, then went for the arm bar. She rolled over on me, but I got the tap by going to my stomach and arching my back. I think Richard, a brownbelt, was watching us, and he said afterwards that I was going to be a real "firecracker!" ... so I need to thank Tom and Robert :)
Second round, I went against a white belt guy (named Tony? I am so bad with names!) and that was also a good roll... I was able to reverse him at one point, but neither of us got a sub before time was called. Right before time, I know that he had side control and was working for an americana, which I managed to defend by rolling towards that side and pulling that shoulder under me.
The third roll was Leila again. I almost got the takedown, then went for a guillotine and sat back without making sure I had one of her legs. She quickly passed and got in side mount. She put her forearm in my throat, meanwhile I was struggling to get a leg. After what seemed like forever, she really got some good pressure on my throat (I defended by turning my jaw but still) and on my chest. I started to abandon the guillotine and laid on my flat back. We were somehow struggling for position, I know that my arms were not in a good place, and I was pretty winded. I just kept thinking of relaxing everything and getting lots of deep breaths. I definitely felt a little claustrophobic which was new for me. She and I both relaxed at the same time, did a bunch of deep breaths, and then went at it again. I could see there were several guys standing around watching us and I started to wish it was over so I could start again and do it right! ... anyway, it seemed like a split-second went by, she got rear mount, and she got the RNC. It was the first time I've ever known the feeling of suffocating. She wasn't that heavy, I don't know how to explain it, but I have to make sure it doesn't happen again. She seems like the perfect person for me to roll with, and she seemed very enthusiastic about getting together again, so I hope that happens and I hope she'll compete too.
Then, Mike (?) a 1-stripe blue who led the class worked with me on double and single leg takedowns for a few min, and by then Mitch and Markell had arrived. So Ivelin and we 3 went to eat at Magnolia Cafe before taking Markell to the airport.
I definitely want to roll with Leila again. Looks like I'll roll with Tom tomorrow at 11; then at Gracie for T/Th mornings at 6, on top of the classes in the evenings.
There is so much to learn and so little time. (Not just for this competition, but I feel like I need to soak soak soak it all in before we have a baby, you know?)
I worked on that with Randy and Ivelin. Randy had some excellent suggestions, like at the start of the armbar, move your own centerline instead of wrestling with them for their arm. The less you pull on someone the less they resist you. When in someone's guard, keep your elbows pinned low and down and swing with them, capitalizing on their own excesses.
When we got around to rolling, I lucked out with Leila. She was doing no-gi, is about my size, about my experience level, and really tough! So it was a delight. We started from knees. I took her down but she got half guard though no lockdown. She's very strong and made it hard to pass. I eventually established side control, then went for the arm bar. She rolled over on me, but I got the tap by going to my stomach and arching my back. I think Richard, a brownbelt, was watching us, and he said afterwards that I was going to be a real "firecracker!" ... so I need to thank Tom and Robert :)
Second round, I went against a white belt guy (named Tony? I am so bad with names!) and that was also a good roll... I was able to reverse him at one point, but neither of us got a sub before time was called. Right before time, I know that he had side control and was working for an americana, which I managed to defend by rolling towards that side and pulling that shoulder under me.
The third roll was Leila again. I almost got the takedown, then went for a guillotine and sat back without making sure I had one of her legs. She quickly passed and got in side mount. She put her forearm in my throat, meanwhile I was struggling to get a leg. After what seemed like forever, she really got some good pressure on my throat (I defended by turning my jaw but still) and on my chest. I started to abandon the guillotine and laid on my flat back. We were somehow struggling for position, I know that my arms were not in a good place, and I was pretty winded. I just kept thinking of relaxing everything and getting lots of deep breaths. I definitely felt a little claustrophobic which was new for me. She and I both relaxed at the same time, did a bunch of deep breaths, and then went at it again. I could see there were several guys standing around watching us and I started to wish it was over so I could start again and do it right! ... anyway, it seemed like a split-second went by, she got rear mount, and she got the RNC. It was the first time I've ever known the feeling of suffocating. She wasn't that heavy, I don't know how to explain it, but I have to make sure it doesn't happen again. She seems like the perfect person for me to roll with, and she seemed very enthusiastic about getting together again, so I hope that happens and I hope she'll compete too.
Then, Mike (?) a 1-stripe blue who led the class worked with me on double and single leg takedowns for a few min, and by then Mitch and Markell had arrived. So Ivelin and we 3 went to eat at Magnolia Cafe before taking Markell to the airport.
I definitely want to roll with Leila again. Looks like I'll roll with Tom tomorrow at 11; then at Gracie for T/Th mornings at 6, on top of the classes in the evenings.
There is so much to learn and so little time. (Not just for this competition, but I feel like I need to soak soak soak it all in before we have a baby, you know?)
Saturday, October 04, 2008
Rolling, Fri 10/3 and Sat 10/4
I got to work with Scott, the purple belt, on some extra stuff for me. I am so lucky to meet people who love jiu jitsu and are willing to show me what they know!
We spent some time practicing pulling the guard against varying degrees of resistance. He showed me how to sprawl and what do to if someone pulls guard on me. How to knock someone down if you get their leg. I learned the best defense to a guillotine (lay your inside arm over their shoulder and down their back) and we also worked a bit on what he called "my series" from guard. That would be a kimura, guillotine, bump sweep in any order. We worked on my sidemount escape and a tiny bit of scissor sweep work as well. What else? Oh yes, how not to give up the back from any position (don't allow your arm to be crossed in front of your centerline, and when overhooking, you have to block their humerus, not ride up on their shoulder/collarbone.) How to escape hooks-in when they have your back, how to pin their leg down and turn into them, and how to escape turtle position if they're too far forward.. but at the moment I can't recall that part! And what he'd be likely to shout from "my corner" during a match-- "do your series" "work the angles" "breathe" and so on... I can't wait!
I also met Christy for my private. It was productive and helpful. I wanted to work on how to defend takedowns and how to do them, but we didn't have time... worked on guard passing, triangles, arm bars, and different grips for no gi. There's the standard wrist control, "gooseneck" over the neck or the collarbone, the tricep grab (cupping with monkey paw)...
I need to remember the order Christy taught for the triangle-- a little different emphasis than Scott's explanation, and ironically it was my first triangle with my left leg bent instead of the right.
Double wrist control, then cup the back of her R tricep with my R hand and pull forward, abandon her L arm. Cup her L collarbone/trap with my L hand, pinning her R forearm across my belly with my L elbow, while I angle my back so its perpendicular in front of her knees and pin my R leg down across the back of her neck (not her shoulder!) then, while flexing the R foot, clamp the L knee over it. Pinch knees together, curl heels straight down to the floor. By this point, consistently I was tight enough that I didn't have to arch my back, pull her head, nothin'. It was a revelation and even Christy laughed to see the sparkle in my eyes. Can't wait for Monday to try it on someone!
Which reminds me, helped Robert teach a great ladies' self-defense seminar at the gym after my private, and it was really empowering and enjoyable to share some tools they'll hopefully never have to use. And I am wondering how Tom's doing at NAGA in Vegas... just sent him a text.
We spent some time practicing pulling the guard against varying degrees of resistance. He showed me how to sprawl and what do to if someone pulls guard on me. How to knock someone down if you get their leg. I learned the best defense to a guillotine (lay your inside arm over their shoulder and down their back) and we also worked a bit on what he called "my series" from guard. That would be a kimura, guillotine, bump sweep in any order. We worked on my sidemount escape and a tiny bit of scissor sweep work as well. What else? Oh yes, how not to give up the back from any position (don't allow your arm to be crossed in front of your centerline, and when overhooking, you have to block their humerus, not ride up on their shoulder/collarbone.) How to escape hooks-in when they have your back, how to pin their leg down and turn into them, and how to escape turtle position if they're too far forward.. but at the moment I can't recall that part! And what he'd be likely to shout from "my corner" during a match-- "do your series" "work the angles" "breathe" and so on... I can't wait!
I also met Christy for my private. It was productive and helpful. I wanted to work on how to defend takedowns and how to do them, but we didn't have time... worked on guard passing, triangles, arm bars, and different grips for no gi. There's the standard wrist control, "gooseneck" over the neck or the collarbone, the tricep grab (cupping with monkey paw)...
I need to remember the order Christy taught for the triangle-- a little different emphasis than Scott's explanation, and ironically it was my first triangle with my left leg bent instead of the right.
Double wrist control, then cup the back of her R tricep with my R hand and pull forward, abandon her L arm. Cup her L collarbone/trap with my L hand, pinning her R forearm across my belly with my L elbow, while I angle my back so its perpendicular in front of her knees and pin my R leg down across the back of her neck (not her shoulder!) then, while flexing the R foot, clamp the L knee over it. Pinch knees together, curl heels straight down to the floor. By this point, consistently I was tight enough that I didn't have to arch my back, pull her head, nothin'. It was a revelation and even Christy laughed to see the sparkle in my eyes. Can't wait for Monday to try it on someone!
Which reminds me, helped Robert teach a great ladies' self-defense seminar at the gym after my private, and it was really empowering and enjoyable to share some tools they'll hopefully never have to use. And I am wondering how Tom's doing at NAGA in Vegas... just sent him a text.
Thursday, October 02, 2008
"Loosely-packed grey matter"
From Dana Milbank's op-ed piece in the Washington Post.
...
Palin, however, is openly shooting for the middle. "It's time that normal Joe Six-Pack American is finally represented in the position of vice presidency," she told radio host Hugh Hewitt this week.
In intelligence quotient terms, Joe Six-Pack would probably translate to the average range (90 to 109), which describes about half the population, or possibly high or low average (80 to 119), which covers more than 80 percent of the population. An IQ of 120 and above, the superior to very superior range? Leave that to the know-it-all Biden.
But when Palin sat down with Couric, the answers seemed to be the product of some loosely packed gray matter. How, specifically, would she spread democracy throughout the world? "Specifically, we will make every effort possible to help spread democracy for those who desire freedom."
What magazines and newspapers does she read? "I've read most of them, again, with a great appreciation for the press, for the media. . . . All of them. Any of them that have been in front of me over all these years."
What Supreme Court decisions other than Roe v. Wade does she disagree with? "Well, let's see. There's, of course in the great history of America there have been rulings, that's never going to be absolute consensus by every American. And there are those issues, again, like Roe v. Wade, where I believe are best held on a state level and addressed there. So, you know, going through the history of America, there would be others."
Any examples of Sen. John McCain seeking more regulation other than stricter oversight for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? "I'll try to find you some and I'll bring them to you."
The debacle made easy work for Palin impersonator Tina Fey on "Saturday Night Live." When pressed to explain how she would spread democracy abroad, the Palin character says: "Katie, I'd like to use one of my lifelines. I want to phone a friend." Told she has no lifelines, the Palin character says: "Well, in that case I'm gonna just have to get back to you!"
The Couric catastrophe left Palin in a bad place. The latest Washington Post-ABC News poll found that six in 10 voters think the Alaska governor doesn't have the experience necessary to be an effective president, and 32 percent are less likely to support McCain because of her, up from 19 percent a month earlier. Independents, by 2 to 1, have a negative view of her.
The media, skeptical of Palin from the start, grew scornful. When Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) went on CBS's "Early Show" on Thursday to say Palin is a "tough" and skilled debater who can "throw a punch with a velvet glove," Politico's Mike Allen published a two-letter reply: "Ha."
. . .
This week, Sarah Palin gave a curious rationale for her candidacy. "It's time," the Republican vice presidential nominee said, "that normal Joe Six-Pack American is finally represented in the position of vice presidency."
When she took the stage Thursday night here at Washington University for the vice presidential debate, Sarah Six-Pack all but popped open a cold one. Wearing a glittery flag pin on her jacket, she blew a kiss toward the audience. She gave a wave that Tina Fey would probably describe as adorable. Then she regarded her Democratic foe, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
"Nice to meet you," Palin told Joe Biden. "Hey, can I call you Joe?"
"You can call me Joe," the senator obliged.
"Okay, thanks," she said brightly.
"Thank you," Biden replied.
"Thank you," she told him again. "Thank you, Gwen," she told moderator Gwen Ifill. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," she told nobody in particular.
It was going to be a long evening.
Palin's intellectual fitness had been put into question by her disastrous interview with Katie Couric, which was filled with panicked silences, flustered non-answers and even a promise to get back to the interviewer with more information. But when Palin took the stage with Biden last night for what may have been the most public IQ test ever administered, she had no problem meeting the exceptionally low expectations. She had talking points adequate to fill the 90 seconds on the various topics Ifill tossed her way, and often forced Biden to defend Barack Obama.
On the other hand, it wasn't exactly a confidence-builder. Palin, in her 90 minutes on the stage Thursday night, left the firm impression that she is indeed ready to lead the nation -- with an unnerving mixture of platitudes and cute, folksy phrases that poured from her lips even when they bore no relation to the questions asked.
"Let's commit ourselves just every day American people, Joe Six-Pack, hockey moms across the nation," she proposed when asked about the mortgage crisis.
"I want to go back to the energy plan," she said when asked about the federal bailout plan.
"I want to talk about, again, my record on energy," she said when asked about bankruptcy.
Biden grew frustrated. "If you notice, Gwen, the governor did not answer the question."
Replied Sarah Six-Pack: "I may not answer the questions that either the moderator or you want to hear, but I'm going to talk straight to the American people."
And, indeed, she stared into the camera, largely ignoring Ifill, Biden and the audience.
On occasion, she unilaterally revised policy for John McCain, as when she said Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "is not one whom we can allow to acquire nuclear energy, nuclear weapons." At other times, her answers defied comprehension, as when Ifill asked about her trigger for using nuclear weapons. "Nuclear weaponry, of course, would be the be-all, end-all of just too many people in too many parts of our planet, so those dangerous regimes, again, cannot be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons, period," she answered.
Iffy, but not the alarming sort of answers she gave Couric on CBS. Then, Palin couldn't identify what newspapers or magazines she reads, couldn't cite a Supreme Court decision she disagreed with other than Roe v. Wade, or any regulatory effort McCain had supported. Asked to name a favorite vice president, she cited Geraldine Ferraro.
In the canned debate format, Palin's platitudes held up better than under Couric's follow-up questions. "Oh yeah, it's so obvious I'm a Washington outsider," she said with a shy grin when Ifill asked about putting troops in Darfur. "And someone just not used to the way you guys operate." Asked about the possibility that she would assume the presidency if the president died in office, she found herself saying, "I think we need a little bit of reality from Wasilla Main Street there, brought to Washington, D.C."
When Ifill said she was changing the subject to foreign policy, Palin tilted her head to the side, gave a slight shrug and made a wary grin. Still, even then, she was able to fill up all 90 seconds of her allotted response time. "Um, your plan is a white flag of surrender in Iraq," she told Biden in a playground taunt. "You guys opposed the 'surge.' "
Smiling through entire sentences, she was relentlessly folksy and unafraid of the trite. The credit squeeze, she said, is "affecting Main Streeters like me." On Middle East policy: "I'm so encouraged to know that we both love Israel."
Predatory mortgages a problem? "Darn right," she said. Tax relief? "Darn right."
Ifill asked Palin if there were any campaign promises she would have to scale back because of the financial crisis. "How long have I been at this?" Palin shot back. "Like, five weeks?"
When backed into uncomfortable terrain, such as defending the Bush administration's economic record, she exploded into cliche and nonsequitur: "Say it ain't so, Joe. There you go again pointing backwards again. . . . Now doggone it, let's look ahead." Before finishing her answer, she mentioned her "brother, who I think is the best schoolteacher in the year, and here's a shout-out to all those third-graders at Gladys Wood Elementary School, you get extra credit for watching the debate."
"Everybody gets extra credit tonight," the moderator assured Sarah Six-Pack. "We're going to move on to the next question."
...
Palin, however, is openly shooting for the middle. "It's time that normal Joe Six-Pack American is finally represented in the position of vice presidency," she told radio host Hugh Hewitt this week.
In intelligence quotient terms, Joe Six-Pack would probably translate to the average range (90 to 109), which describes about half the population, or possibly high or low average (80 to 119), which covers more than 80 percent of the population. An IQ of 120 and above, the superior to very superior range? Leave that to the know-it-all Biden.
But when Palin sat down with Couric, the answers seemed to be the product of some loosely packed gray matter. How, specifically, would she spread democracy throughout the world? "Specifically, we will make every effort possible to help spread democracy for those who desire freedom."
What magazines and newspapers does she read? "I've read most of them, again, with a great appreciation for the press, for the media. . . . All of them. Any of them that have been in front of me over all these years."
What Supreme Court decisions other than Roe v. Wade does she disagree with? "Well, let's see. There's, of course in the great history of America there have been rulings, that's never going to be absolute consensus by every American. And there are those issues, again, like Roe v. Wade, where I believe are best held on a state level and addressed there. So, you know, going through the history of America, there would be others."
Any examples of Sen. John McCain seeking more regulation other than stricter oversight for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? "I'll try to find you some and I'll bring them to you."
The debacle made easy work for Palin impersonator Tina Fey on "Saturday Night Live." When pressed to explain how she would spread democracy abroad, the Palin character says: "Katie, I'd like to use one of my lifelines. I want to phone a friend." Told she has no lifelines, the Palin character says: "Well, in that case I'm gonna just have to get back to you!"
The Couric catastrophe left Palin in a bad place. The latest Washington Post-ABC News poll found that six in 10 voters think the Alaska governor doesn't have the experience necessary to be an effective president, and 32 percent are less likely to support McCain because of her, up from 19 percent a month earlier. Independents, by 2 to 1, have a negative view of her.
The media, skeptical of Palin from the start, grew scornful. When Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) went on CBS's "Early Show" on Thursday to say Palin is a "tough" and skilled debater who can "throw a punch with a velvet glove," Politico's Mike Allen published a two-letter reply: "Ha."
. . .
This week, Sarah Palin gave a curious rationale for her candidacy. "It's time," the Republican vice presidential nominee said, "that normal Joe Six-Pack American is finally represented in the position of vice presidency."
When she took the stage Thursday night here at Washington University for the vice presidential debate, Sarah Six-Pack all but popped open a cold one. Wearing a glittery flag pin on her jacket, she blew a kiss toward the audience. She gave a wave that Tina Fey would probably describe as adorable. Then she regarded her Democratic foe, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
"Nice to meet you," Palin told Joe Biden. "Hey, can I call you Joe?"
"You can call me Joe," the senator obliged.
"Okay, thanks," she said brightly.
"Thank you," Biden replied.
"Thank you," she told him again. "Thank you, Gwen," she told moderator Gwen Ifill. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," she told nobody in particular.
It was going to be a long evening.
Palin's intellectual fitness had been put into question by her disastrous interview with Katie Couric, which was filled with panicked silences, flustered non-answers and even a promise to get back to the interviewer with more information. But when Palin took the stage with Biden last night for what may have been the most public IQ test ever administered, she had no problem meeting the exceptionally low expectations. She had talking points adequate to fill the 90 seconds on the various topics Ifill tossed her way, and often forced Biden to defend Barack Obama.
On the other hand, it wasn't exactly a confidence-builder. Palin, in her 90 minutes on the stage Thursday night, left the firm impression that she is indeed ready to lead the nation -- with an unnerving mixture of platitudes and cute, folksy phrases that poured from her lips even when they bore no relation to the questions asked.
"Let's commit ourselves just every day American people, Joe Six-Pack, hockey moms across the nation," she proposed when asked about the mortgage crisis.
"I want to go back to the energy plan," she said when asked about the federal bailout plan.
"I want to talk about, again, my record on energy," she said when asked about bankruptcy.
Biden grew frustrated. "If you notice, Gwen, the governor did not answer the question."
Replied Sarah Six-Pack: "I may not answer the questions that either the moderator or you want to hear, but I'm going to talk straight to the American people."
And, indeed, she stared into the camera, largely ignoring Ifill, Biden and the audience.
On occasion, she unilaterally revised policy for John McCain, as when she said Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "is not one whom we can allow to acquire nuclear energy, nuclear weapons." At other times, her answers defied comprehension, as when Ifill asked about her trigger for using nuclear weapons. "Nuclear weaponry, of course, would be the be-all, end-all of just too many people in too many parts of our planet, so those dangerous regimes, again, cannot be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons, period," she answered.
Iffy, but not the alarming sort of answers she gave Couric on CBS. Then, Palin couldn't identify what newspapers or magazines she reads, couldn't cite a Supreme Court decision she disagreed with other than Roe v. Wade, or any regulatory effort McCain had supported. Asked to name a favorite vice president, she cited Geraldine Ferraro.
In the canned debate format, Palin's platitudes held up better than under Couric's follow-up questions. "Oh yeah, it's so obvious I'm a Washington outsider," she said with a shy grin when Ifill asked about putting troops in Darfur. "And someone just not used to the way you guys operate." Asked about the possibility that she would assume the presidency if the president died in office, she found herself saying, "I think we need a little bit of reality from Wasilla Main Street there, brought to Washington, D.C."
When Ifill said she was changing the subject to foreign policy, Palin tilted her head to the side, gave a slight shrug and made a wary grin. Still, even then, she was able to fill up all 90 seconds of her allotted response time. "Um, your plan is a white flag of surrender in Iraq," she told Biden in a playground taunt. "You guys opposed the 'surge.' "
Smiling through entire sentences, she was relentlessly folksy and unafraid of the trite. The credit squeeze, she said, is "affecting Main Streeters like me." On Middle East policy: "I'm so encouraged to know that we both love Israel."
Predatory mortgages a problem? "Darn right," she said. Tax relief? "Darn right."
Ifill asked Palin if there were any campaign promises she would have to scale back because of the financial crisis. "How long have I been at this?" Palin shot back. "Like, five weeks?"
When backed into uncomfortable terrain, such as defending the Bush administration's economic record, she exploded into cliche and nonsequitur: "Say it ain't so, Joe. There you go again pointing backwards again. . . . Now doggone it, let's look ahead." Before finishing her answer, she mentioned her "brother, who I think is the best schoolteacher in the year, and here's a shout-out to all those third-graders at Gladys Wood Elementary School, you get extra credit for watching the debate."
"Everybody gets extra credit tonight," the moderator assured Sarah Six-Pack. "We're going to move on to the next question."
Belt test -- standup sparring videos...
For my yellow belt in kajukenbo I had to do 3 rounds of standup sparring first... this is my second round, sparring against my instructor. I'm wearing shin guards and booties that really annoyed me.
My last round of standup was against visiting instructor and 5th degree black belt, Jeff Richardson..
These videos are taking a while to upload so I'll do the grappling ones tomorrow.
My last round of standup was against visiting instructor and 5th degree black belt, Jeff Richardson..
These videos are taking a while to upload so I'll do the grappling ones tomorrow.
Gracie class 10/2
Just finished class #2 at the Gracie school. I am amazed, astonished, delighted, and even more freaking addicted than ever-- I am learning SO MUCH and it's been wonderful! Tonight was just the regular class.. we learned/drilled sidemount escapes back to guard, to the back, and to a shin sweep... then a scissor sweep, push sweep, elevator sweep series... and a sit-up sweep they called the whitebelt killer, all from full guard. Drilled with a few nice guys-- Jordan, Steven, Brian, and Scott. Also saw Christy and will be scheduling a private with her this weekend.
When class was over it shifted to open mat, and a purple belt, Scott, took me under his wing. As soon as I told him how long I've been training and that I have my first tournament next weekend, he was on a mission to brain dump, and I learned how to pull guard from the clinch... he showed me a kimura-guillotine combination... I finally learned how to do a triangle the easy way even for my stubby little legs... learned 3 triangle defenses (swim the free arm in between their legs and frame down against their femur; a stack-and-step-over-their-head one that ends up flipping them upside down on their stomach, and then one where you brace their bent leg against the ground and posture up out of it into side control)... polished my arm bar from guard and learned a better armbar counter.. all in 20 minutes... then I mentioned that Tom, my rolling buddy, is going to NAGA this weekend and I was predicting he would bail on cornering me for my tournament, so this purple belt said he'd do it :) How nice people can be! And how fun to find people who share your passions!
When class was over it shifted to open mat, and a purple belt, Scott, took me under his wing. As soon as I told him how long I've been training and that I have my first tournament next weekend, he was on a mission to brain dump, and I learned how to pull guard from the clinch... he showed me a kimura-guillotine combination... I finally learned how to do a triangle the easy way even for my stubby little legs... learned 3 triangle defenses (swim the free arm in between their legs and frame down against their femur; a stack-and-step-over-their-head one that ends up flipping them upside down on their stomach, and then one where you brace their bent leg against the ground and posture up out of it into side control)... polished my arm bar from guard and learned a better armbar counter.. all in 20 minutes... then I mentioned that Tom, my rolling buddy, is going to NAGA this weekend and I was predicting he would bail on cornering me for my tournament, so this purple belt said he'd do it :) How nice people can be! And how fun to find people who share your passions!
I made the Supreme Court list!
OK-- what I really mean is, one of my cases is on the Supreme Court blog list of cases to watch i.e. cases that cert might be granted in. You can go to the SCOTUS blog here and scroll down to docket # 07-1429, Lucero v. Texas. My brief can be read by clicking on Brief in Opposition. BTW, the blogger didn't get the issue right.
Thursday 10/2
Today I rolled with Robert. Since he always asks me to end rolls with something new and exotic, I looked around on the internet and was prepared with the Anaconda. Alas, given the size of his neck and shoulders, this was not the best choice for me. And, ironically, he tapped me out with that move himself about 2/3 of the way through. As always, I am woeful victim of the triangle and armbar. I need to do a better job of countering. I did several times get free after stacking him, and converted to either side or north-south, but didn't tap him. I did submit him twice, can you guess? Yep-- the Americana from side, and once a pseudo-Americana, pseudo-straight arm bar on the same side of his body as mine, from side... he called it "some really made up sh*t" because I was on his right side, kneeling my L knee on his R wrist, controlling his R hip with my R knee, levering his R elbow up with my L arm and pinning his throat with my R elbow.
Anyway, leaving in a bit to head to my class at the Gracie school. :)
Anyway, leaving in a bit to head to my class at the Gracie school. :)
Wednesday's roll...
It occurs to me I should start dating my blogs about rolls... otherwise the pleasant possibility of infinite "Monday roll"s, "Tuesday roll"s, etc. It's like sushi-- always different, always good.
Anyway-- rolled with Robert yesterday. We got stuck in the yoga room so it was steamy hot from all the sunlight. I had better luck with my guard pass, grabbing his pants and sinking my elbows in deeply, being up on active feet and getting that knee up quickly. Not so much luck with the "soaring" my knee over his leg. Never could do the forearm choke; successfully swept him with the scissor though and that was fun. Did not attempt the elevator due to the size differential. I was better at avoiding the triangle, focused on having both arms in or no arms in and that seemed to help.
He let me tap him twice-- once, as always, with the Americana from side mount, and one really weird random strange armbar. After a lengthy attempt to keep his back and sink an RNC, I ended up scrambling to defend myself and found my legs wrapped around his neck, he was on his back and I was face down, perpendicular to his body. Meanwhile, I had some poorly-executed excuse for a straight arm bar going on with his R arm. He tried to peel my legs off his chin/face/neck but was not successful. It worked but it was ugggggly. I couldn't recreate it if I tried and thank goodness.
I was better at holding on to my gi or his, defensively.
Today I have the Gracie school 5-8pm. Yum!
Anyway-- rolled with Robert yesterday. We got stuck in the yoga room so it was steamy hot from all the sunlight. I had better luck with my guard pass, grabbing his pants and sinking my elbows in deeply, being up on active feet and getting that knee up quickly. Not so much luck with the "soaring" my knee over his leg. Never could do the forearm choke; successfully swept him with the scissor though and that was fun. Did not attempt the elevator due to the size differential. I was better at avoiding the triangle, focused on having both arms in or no arms in and that seemed to help.
He let me tap him twice-- once, as always, with the Americana from side mount, and one really weird random strange armbar. After a lengthy attempt to keep his back and sink an RNC, I ended up scrambling to defend myself and found my legs wrapped around his neck, he was on his back and I was face down, perpendicular to his body. Meanwhile, I had some poorly-executed excuse for a straight arm bar going on with his R arm. He tried to peel my legs off his chin/face/neck but was not successful. It worked but it was ugggggly. I couldn't recreate it if I tried and thank goodness.
I was better at holding on to my gi or his, defensively.
Today I have the Gracie school 5-8pm. Yum!
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